1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to techniques for in-situ evaluation of the temperature of an electronic circuit.
More precisely, according to a first of its aspects, the invention relates to an electronic circuit provided with an oscillator outputting a first signal during operation oscillating at a first variable frequency, varying as a function of the temperature of the circuit in accordance with a determined monotonic function, this circuit having a second signal during operation oscillating at a second known frequency independent of the temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
It may be crucial to detect the temperature of an electronic circuit, because the physical integrity and correct operation of such a circuit can only be guaranteed within a given temperature range, and outside this range the circuit can produce aberrant results even in the best cases, possibly with serious consequences.
It is known that temperature sensors can be used on some electronic circuits to overcome these difficulties.
Nevertheless, this not only makes it necessary to significantly increase the size of the circuit so that the temperature sensor can be integrated into it, but it is also relatively difficult to verify the response of this sensor.
Accordingly, there exists a need for overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art as discussed above.